Chapter 4, Caveman John
John was terrified. One minute he was snorkeling on the beach with his two best friends, Jacob and Michael, when he heard Michael shouting that he found a cool cube. And the next, he was temporarily blinded by a flash of light as he felt the ground disappear from under his feet.
He was falling, and was starting to fall fast. Frantically clearing his eyes from the blinding light, Jacob looked towards what he thought to be down, only to see a snow covered forest. He had no idea why there was snow in the middle of summer, but then again, he was suddenly falling from a few hundred feet high. John braced for impact, hoping that the snow covered branches would slow his fall enough to live.
A few seconds later, John was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't as much in pain as he had expected to be, and neither was he freezing. He still hurt a lot more than he wanted to, but he wasn't dead and he could walk around. Instead of snow, he had fallen in a dense grove of giant soft white leaves that slowed his fall, leaving him relatively uninjured. He only got a few bruises, and maybe a broken wrist. Only problem was that he was in God knows where, and he didn't have his phone with him.
John knew that he couldn't stay still. He doubted anyone knew where to find him, as there was nothing that led him to being where he was, except probably that magic box Michael had found. If he wanted to live, he had to find people fast. He hadn't ever heard of a white, or more accurately a pale blue forest, but he was sure that there had to be at least some civilization nearby. He picked a random direction, and started walking that way, hoping he would find some sign of people, like a path, or maybe a river that he could follow until it led him to a city.
It was as John was walking through the dense forest, that he came up with a better idea. There were plenty of trees around, and those trees looked like they were easy enough to climb. He picked the one that looked like the safest one. it wasn't the tallest, but with his injuries he didn't want to even risk falling for a second time.
The climbing was more painful than he had anticipated. He had nearly cried when he had to pull himself up with both hands, not just the relatively uninjured one. But he eventually made it to the top. What he saw was straight out of a nightmare. The forest continued on for miles, all the way past the horizon in all directions. What was worse, John couldn't see any smoke, roads or houses that would indicate any sort of civilization. And worst of all, something John hoped with all his heart to be a illusion, a mirage created by pain and his tired mind. The sky had two suns.
John had watched enough TV to know he shouldn't panic, panicking would not help him. He was in an alien world, with no knowledge of his surrounding, no idea of what kind of predators lurked between the trees, and to make matter worse, he probably had a broken arm. But even so, he could - no, he would figure things out.
He needed a plan. There was no civilization in sight heck, there might not even be any civilization. So he needed to stay put. There was no use wandering around aimlessly now that he knew there was nowhere to go. He also needed somewhere to sleep, find water to drink, and eventually find some food.
First things first, John needed shelter. Looking around he noticed that some of the pale blue leaves were perfect for the job. They were rigid enough to be work as a small roof, and both large and soft enough to work as a decent mattress. Only problem was that he didn't have enough strength to tear them apart. He couldn't make the tent he was planning to, without tools.
For the next half an hour, John looked around the forest ground in search of a small stone that he could use to cut the leaves. He found a few good ones in a small alcove between two large boulders.
John smashed the rocks together until he had one small sharp stone. It was not a knife, but it would work for his purposes. Only problem was that John was getting thirsty. Maybe he should have looked for water before a place to sleep.
With his sharp stone in hand, John went to look for water.
It took three hours of wandering around before John found anything more than a small puddle, and the large puddle he found wasn't much better. The sky was already turning dark, with the blue sun already past the horizon, and the red one about to follow.
He had spent most of his time searching, wondering if his friends were stuck on this alien planet with him, and about his family back home. His parents and sister would be worried.
John decided to head back to the small alcove he had found, so he could get some sleep. He could quickly cut two leaves, use one as a mattress and another to cover the alcoves entrance. He hoped it would be enough for whatever predators not to find him.
Half an hour later, John was cutting a leaf off a tree. It might not be very accurate to call it that, since it looked more like the top of a pineapple, but it was tree-ish. The leaf was much heavier than John expected, almost as if it was filled with water.
John felt his hopes rising as he cut a thin Line across the leaf, and sure enough, a trickle of water flowed through the cut. He had no idea if the water was good to drink, but it sure as hell was better than puddle water.
Hoping that it wouldn't kill him instantly, John took a small sip. He didn't feel any different, and the water had a similar taste to cold tea –it was leaf juice after all–, but he decided it might be safest to wait till morning before drinking more. Just in case it wasn't safe to drink.
A few minutes later, having dragged two leaves to use as a mattress and a door to the alcove, John went to sleep hoping that he would be able to find some breakfast in the morning.
The next morning John was upset to realize the previous day hadn't just been a dream. He really was on an alien planet, and he was hungry. He didn't feel sick in any way, so he was fairly certain the leaf juice was safe to drink. That, or it took longer than one night to get sick from it, but he decided that quenching his thirst was worth the risk.
Unfortunately the morning drink did nothing against his hunger. So with a grumbling stomach, John went to search for something to stuff his mouth with.
In the one hour after John had woken up, he had found nothing that even remotely resembled anything like fruits and berries. He had seen a few birds similar to pterodactyls, and other small animals, but he had nothing to hunt with. The few 4 legged furry insects he found also didn't look much like food. So Jacob eventually decided to try eating the leaves, bark and roots of plants.
He knew that any number of the things he ate might be poisonous, or just something he couldn't digest, so John decided to eat only one specific thing each day. That way he could easily figure out what was edible and what not.
It is how John spent the next few days. He gathered leaves to drink from, gathered some food and tried his best to make a cast for his probably broken left arm. He spent the rest of his time trying to make better stone tools. He wanted to make a stone ax, and some clothes. John didn't like wearing his swimming trunks all day, every day.
Then John became bored. He had already found some digestible things to eat, but his mental health wouldn't last. If he ever wanted to get home, he had to do something more. Hopefully Michael and Jacob were stuck on the planet with him, maybe somewhere nearby in the forest. Michael might even still have the cube, and they might be able to get home together.
Everything John owned, meaning his new tools and clothes, could be easily carried with him. His house was just two large leaves, and he could probably make a simple replacement pretty much anywhere. It meant that John could simply start walking, and sleep wherever he was at the end of the day. He didn't have to stay still to stay safe. He could go looking for his friends, and then he could get back home to his family.